{"id":10751,"date":"2017-12-15T03:53:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T03:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10751"},"modified":"2017-12-16T03:57:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-16T03:57:30","slug":"aim-brought-instant-messaging-to-the-masses-teaching-skills-for-modern-communication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/aim-brought-instant-messaging-to-the-masses-teaching-skills-for-modern-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"AIM brought instant messaging to the masses, teaching skills for modern communication"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicholas Bowman<\/a>, West Virginia University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Toward the mid-1990s, America Online (by then going by its nickname, AOL) was the company through which most Americans accessed the internet. As many as half of the CD-ROMs<\/a> produced at the time bore the near-ubiquitous AOL logo, offering early computer users the opportunity to surf the internet for a flat fee \u2013 at the time, US$19.99 for unlimited monthly access<\/a>. <\/p>\n

With nearly half of U.S.-based internet traffic flowing through AOL<\/a>, the stage was set for a social evolution of sorts that shifted our collective relationship with technology and each other. AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, was launched in May 1997<\/a> as a way for AOL users to chat each other in real time, via text.<\/p>\n

The service\u2019s Dec. 15 shutdown<\/a> was announced, notably, on a new real-time text communication channel, Twitter. That is just one testament to AIM\u2019s lasting effects on how people use technology to connect today.<\/p>\n

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